This is an annual event, involving guided village walks, poetry readings, talks, folk music and dance, and usually a commented coach tour around Clare countryside. All centred on Helpston - a delightful English village, with traditional teas in the village hall and fine fayre at the local pub. The village also has the John Clare Cottage, which is open to visitors.
For the 2016 Friday night folk in the Blue Bell pub; Saturday walks, talks and village activities, with evening concert; Sunday, village walking etc. Book stalls, traditional teas, art exhibitions. Free to attend except for the concert which has a small charge. John Clare Cottage will also be open.
When? 15 - 17 July 2016
Where? John Clare School, Helpston, Peterborough
Who? & What? Talks by Margi Blunden, and Carry Akroyd. Concert by The Big Fiddle Band
How much? Free
Festival Website: John Clare Society
Past Festivals? Dr Ronald Blythe; Richard Mabey; The Greenwood Quire; Chris Harrison
John Clare was born in 1793 in Helpston in rural Northamptonshire. With his reputation having grown over the whole of the 20th Century, he is now regarded as one of the most important poets of the natural world. He wrote many poems, essays, journals and letters about love, corruption and politics, environmental and social change, poverty and folk life. A talented fiddler, he became, in effect, one of the first collectors of 'folk' tunes.
If you are involved in this festival you can update or change details via the organisers page . Authors can list here.